[Samuel Marquis, Practical matters]: Bringing the strengths of your day job into your writing + making time for two careers Ep 1194

This week I’m speaking with Samuel Marquis, author of twelve books that cross genres, including American nonfiction-history, historical fiction, and suspense books. Samuel’s newest book, “Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal” comes out in May and is about Samuel’s ninth great grandfather, legendary pirate Captain William Kidd. His other books include “Blackbeard: Birth of America,” a Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year, “Soldiers of Freedom,” and “Lions of the Desert.” All told, his books have over 25,000 Amazon and Goodreads reviews.
By day, Samuel is a hydrogeologist and has served as an expert witness in several multimillion-dollar class action litigation cases about groundwater contamination.
We covered:
- Building what he calls a “hybrid career” out of multiple interests (science, history, and writing)
- The similarities between science writing and literary historical writing
- Letting your early work stink
- Developing your own voice
- The importance of resilience, because building a writing career is like “climbing mountain after mountain”
- Really fascinating insight on how geology and history are intertwined, and how having a scientific mind helps write history
- Infusing historical writing with character development
- Making time for everything when you have two jobs and a family (“I’m just always busy”
- Finding inspiration in your family tree
Connect with Samuel at samuelmarquisbooks.com.
For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.
Thank you for listening!
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